Thoughts and adventures from one American family living in Japan... taking life, one beat at a time.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Wait, I have a blog?

I do this every time something major happens. I stop updating my blog. Why? I don't know. Now I don't know where to begin... how about the TWENTY FOUR hour trip (door to door) from Misawa back to Raleigh? Thank goodness Jeff was able to come back with us, I might have lost it. Especially when we had bad turbulence and I freaked my freak out, crying 'I just want things to STOP SHAKING!'

We came back to our condo that we still own, which was destroyed by the guy who was renting from us. I mean, uninhabitable. Jeff worked his ass off to get it to the point where we could move back in and off of my sisters couch. It was nasty. But we bought some furniture (some new, some used) and started making a home here in Raleigh. We knew that Noah and I would stay State side until Amelia is born in the beginning of August. Jeff had to go back to Misawa for work.

Then there was a tornado.

Our condo building was right in the path and sustained some pretty major damage, including ripping off the roof in one spot, thus damaging the sprinkler system, thus flooding some of our neighbors' homes. Our condo was not damaged at all, thank goodness. But since the building was hit so bad in some areas, it was condemned. Noah and I were once again displaced from our home. We went to stay with my sister Jessica. It was about 2 weeks until we were able to come back to the condo.

4 weeks pass by from when Jeff left for Misawa and his return back to Raleigh. During said 4 weeks I discover I am not cut out to be a single parent. Ever. It is amazing how much Noah and I depend on Jeff when we are all together, and how well we all work together, and how his absence from us is so very noticeable. I do not say it or recognize it nearly enough, but I am one lucky girl to have such a devoted father to our children.

Jeff returns! Home improvement projects continue. The condo now looks AMAZING (know anyone who wants to buy it, by the way??). Jeff decides to put in his 30 day notice with his company, knowing that there is an opportunity with the Department of Navy that would move us OUT OF MISAWA (best news ever) and down near Tokyo to Yokosuka. Weeks go by, we are all home together for the longest stretch since becoming a family. Jeff gets the job offer (woo hoo!) and heads back to Japan, this time to Yokosuka and not Misawa, six weeks after he arrived.

So that about catches this lonely little blog up on the past couple months. We are still figuring out the details of the move from Misawa to Yokosuka (we still have our house in Misawa, which is full of stuff, which needs to be moved... but not before we find a house in Yokosuka...). So many details, so much to do... and here I am 34 weeks pregnant!

Life has finally begun to settle down since it was shaken up by the earthquake in March. Despite all that has happened, all the changes... it has still been a fantastic couple of months. I realized just how strong we are as a family and what we are capable of taking on. I realized how lucky I am to be married to Jeff and how lucky our children our that he is their father.

And little Amelia is growing, kicking, causing heartburn and all the other relative discomforts that come along with being 34 weeks pregnant. My heart is being a trooper... beating a bit faster than it should but nothing too alarming. I do have some pain at my incision area, but heck, it was just a year ago that I was having open heart surgery! I think it is just the scar tissue stretching.